


Caved In

by ok_but_first_tea



Series: Im Feeling Neurodivergent And Gay In This Kepler Tonight [3]
Category: TAZ Amnesty - Fandom, The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Aubrey Little Has ADHD, Autistic Duck Newton, Flashbacks, Gen, Light Angst, Misophonia, Panic Attacks, Pine Guard - Freeform, as in the literal "he has a flashback" ptsd kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 08:24:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15335811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ok_but_first_tea/pseuds/ok_but_first_tea
Summary: Duck is stuck in a cave with Beacon as his conversation partner. Unfortunately, Beacon majorly sets off his misophonia.





	Caved In

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!  
> Big thanks to TunefulCandour for the idea for this and the lovely comment!!
> 
> beware there are descriptions of a panic attack in here! please look after yourself <333  
> also duck is autistic and i will fight for that

It wasn’t surprising to Duck when the cave, well, when it caved in. It hadn’t looked all too stable to begin with, but when he’d chosen it as hide out Duck had been worn a little too thin to care about anything other than “warm” and “dry”. 

Aubrey and Ned were still safely on the other side, thankfully. Though less thankfully, Ned had gone off looking for wood for fire awhile earlier, for reasons unbeknownst to Duck, which only left a tired and panicky Aubrey. 

“Listen,” Duck said, willing his tone to be calm but authoritative, “Aubrey. Whatever you’re thinking of, you cannot set this cave on fire.” 

The moment the words were out of his mouth he could feel his mistake. 

“I CAN and I WILL.” Aubrey called back. “Watch me.” 

“nonononnoNONO NO. AUBREY!” and banged on a big rock, then he added a soft “fuck.”

It started heating up in the cave. And then suddenly it got Very Hot in the cave. 

“Aubrey please, stop!” Duck yelled. Immediately, the air around him became more bearable. 

“Just go find someone to get me out. There’s a protocol for these things.” Though he never thought he’d be one of the dumbasses who’d need to follow this one protocol in particular. He sighed. 

“But- but if I can just, melt these rocks, I could --!” Aubrey sputtered from the other side of the steadily cooling wall of rocks. Everything the size from boulders to pebbles went into that wall. 

“Aubrey.” Duck said.

Aubrey paused briefly, and then said, “yeah?” 

“You do know what happens to rocks when they melt, right?” Aubrey heard the long suffering expression Duck’s face was making in his voice. 

“...Lava?” Aubrey said. 

“That’s right. Lava.” Duck said in his most patient voice he also used on small children annoying the wildlife. It was the voice he used when he was nearing a breakdown. “Now I want you to imagine something.” 

“Actually, I think I understa-”

“If the rocks become lava,” Duck said, ever patient. “and I’m stuck in the cave, guess what would happen?” 

Another pause, then Aubrey said, “oops?”    
“Just go find someone who can deal with this.”

“Got it!” 

Duck heard Aubrey quickly run away. And then she was gone. 

And then Duck was alone. 

He let out a long sigh, all the way from his toes. He tried to clear his head, tried to pull back from the tidal wave of emotion he’d been pushing back for the past two hours. 

Picking at his hands, an old habit he’d tried to hard to get rid of, he tried to focus on the sounds surrounding him. There weren’t a lot of sounds so he cleared his throat a few times. 

“Well well well. This is an interesting destination, Duck.” 

Duck groaned, if just to block out a little bit of the sound from the sword. 

Any time. Any time would be better than this one. 

“What do you want, Beacon?” 

“That’s not what I would call a very. Warm. Welcome. Duck.”    
Duck could hear the smacking in their voice. The tone waved like nails over chalkboard, and he could feel if from the crown of his head dripping all the way down his back. 

But the smacking. 

The smacking made him feel like a just barely holding together game of Mikado. It pierced right through him and cut of his airways. 

The echo the cave provided was just adding insult to injury. 

“Beacon.” Duck said. He wanted to seem strong and refuse his voice to tremer but after opening his mouth, Duck settled on audible and not completely falling apart, “Beacon, I cannot deal with this right now.” 

“You do seem to need my assistance a lot more latel-” Beacon said, but got interrupted. It put him of his rhythm. Duck usually had at least the respect to let him finish talking. Duck wasn’t an “in a hurry”-kind of person, who wouldn’t at least hear people out. 

“No.” Duck said. “Please I- I can’t-” 

Duck’s breathing became more irregular by the second. The environment was too small, and too dark, and too warm, and there was too much of everything. 

There was so much Duck couldn’t breathe. He dug his nails deep into the palm of his hand, desperately trying to calm himself. 

“Errr, Duck?” Beacon asked eventually.

“Just shut up.” Duck answered between breathing. Misophonia sucked and he Did Not need it right now. 

He tried to do the thing where you count five things what you can see, but it was too dark to see anything, and he was losing feeling in his fingers. He felt warm. 

Really warm. 

Almost like fire. 

Duck looked up and saw flames advance on him. 

They’re not real, they’re not real, they’re not real. 

Beacon’s voice ripped through his thoughts like a rusty nail. 

“Duck, err, I would say this is highly unusual,” they said, “but you know,”

“-Please just shut up-” 

“-In our line of work, that doesn’t say aaaaah- say a lot, if you catch my meaning. Ey Duck?” 

Duck finally got some grip on his breathing. His heart hammered in his chest and his ears ringed, but he could see the outline of the cave clearly, even with the lights quickly shimmering away through the cracks in the wall of rocks. 

But he was okay. 

He was fine. 

And then Beacon cleared his throat. “Duck Newton?”

Duck flinched. 

“Listen, Beacon. I will say this once, and once only, I like you. You’re my friend and I’d like talking to you,” Beacon chuckled in a way that indicated he approved of this compliment.

“ if it wasn’t for your god awful voice.” Duck added. “Like, man. I can’t handle that. Especially not right now, nothing personal.”

There hung an uncomfortable silence in the cave while Duck tried to get his shit together. 

He was beginning to feel very tired, and he knew the end of this adrenaline high was nearing quickly. He needed to keep it together. 

Just until his crew came back and he could get home. 

“You know, Duck…” Beacon started in a misguided attempt to lighten the mood. 

“Just don’t.” 

And that was fortunately the end of that. Thank fuck. 

Duck took a large breath. 

“Duck, buddy, you still in there?” He heard Aubrey from outside. 

“My friends! What the hell happened with your hideout plans?” Ned asked. 

“Also found Ned.” Aubrey said. 

Duck rubbed his temples. He could handle this. 

“Yeah, hey, you can get me out?” He asked. 

“Mhm!!” Aubrey sounded excited, what was generally regarded as her general tone of voice, but it still calmed Duck’s worrying feelings a bit. 

“There’s this opening on the other side of the cave, we found a map, its not to far or complicated, you should find it without problems.” Aubrey said.

“It is, regrettably, safer than digging you out.” Ned said. 

Duck nodded, if only to convince himself he still had the courage and energy to stand back up from the cold ground. 

“Yeah, yeah.” He said. “This is fine. Where do I go?”

Aubrey gave the directions, and Duck soon got out of the cave. 

Even on the ride home, driven by Ned, Beacon stayed silent. Not even a single chuckle or jab. 

He stayed miraculously quiet for awhile. At least, until Duck got some sleep. 

And even then, it might just have been Duck’s imagination, but Beacon sounded just a little bit, just a fraction, softer around the edges. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!


End file.
